Celts in need of stronger second halves

Wednesday

Doc Rivers says he’s not one for splashy, emotional halftime speeches. Sometimes he barely addresses his team at the break.But after two straight losses to the New York Knicks highlighted by...

BOSTON — Doc Rivers says he’s not one for splashy, emotional halftime speeches. Sometimes he barely addresses his team at the break.

But after two straight losses to the New York Knicks highlighted by two horrific second halves, the Celtics’ coach may have to come up with something poignant at the break when the series resumes Friday at TD Garden.

“If it’s going to come to that, we’re in trouble,” Rivers with a chuckle. “I don’t even know what Mike Fratello [his pro coach in Atlanta] said [sometimes]. But listen; we have to do something. We have to do something because we’ve come out flat. Period.”

If the first two games of this series had ended at halftime, the Celtics would own a 2-0 advantage. A 53-49 halftime lead in Game One turned into a 85-78 Knicks’ win. In Game Two, Boston’s offense was again humming along to the tune of a 48-39 lead with a minute to play in the half. The Knicks proceeded to score the final three points to trail 48-42 at the break and then blitz the Celtics with a 26-6 knockout punch to open the third quarter.

By the end of the third, the Knicks were celebrating a 74-59 lead and the stunned Celtics were left wondering what was going on. A fourth quarter spent running in quicksand led to giddy Knicks fans hooting at foul-plagued Celtics’ center Kevin Garnett and high-fiving one another after each Carmelo Anthony (35 ppg.) heroic.

Garnett finished his postgame remarks by saying, “Boston, here we come.” And it’s easy to see why the Celts can’t wait to play Game Three in front of a TD Garden crowd that has yet to see their heroes since the Boston Marathon bombings. Friday night’s return home needs to change the series.

“It feels like a month,” Rivers said on a Wednesday afternoon conference call. “It will be great to be home. Obviously this is extreme circumstances. We missed our last home game of the year and have been on the road ever since. First of all, it’s just good to be back in Boston, period. Second, it will feel great and be great to be back in the Garden, playing in front of our fans. But we have to play better. We have to play harder. I thought, clearly, the Knicks came out in the second half and, acted far more desperate than we did. And I thought it showed in the way they played.”

The NBA is a home team’s league. Anyone who watched the litany of touch-foul calls that went against the Celtics (including supposed stars Garnett and Paul Pierce) and in the favor of the Knicks’ Anthony has to admit that will not continue in Boston’s Garden. The fans, the atmosphere, the Celtics’ aura simply won’t allow it. The Celtics finished 27-13 at home this season and just 14-27 on the road.

But a friendlier referee’s whistle isn’t enough to get things done. The Celtics are savagely flawed right now without Rajon Rondo’s playmaking or a low-post game of any consequence. Garnett was hit with instant foul woes (two in the opening 3:21) and played tentatively on defense and reverted to being a soft jump-shooter on offense. No one else is ready to pick up the slack in the post, a development that’s making New York veteran Kenyon Martin look young again.

Here a stat to try on for size: in the two games, the Celtics have seven offensive rebounds, Garnett zero. Martin has eight all by himself.

Keeping Garnett, who was hit in the hip in Game Two but will be fine for Friday’s game, on the floor for longer, more productive minutes is mandatory. Rivers says his team’s guards must do a better job stopping penetration and keeping the Knicks away from Garnett close to the hoop. Speedy Raymond Felton (14.5 ppg, 8 assists, 2 turnovers) owned the lane in New York.

“He’s killing us,” Rivers said of Felton. “He’s getting into the paint and hurting us. We have to keep him out of the paint.”

Rivers went out of his way to point out that he’s concerned about his team’s defense and offense. Fans and media may be harping on the Celtics’ 25 second-half points in Game One and 23 in the second half in Game Two, but when the Knicks were outscoring Boston 32-11 in the third period, it was clear that defensive breakdowns were crippling the offense.

Garnett, for one, wanted to harp mostly on the team’s offensive woes late Tuesday night in the bowels of Madison Square Garden.

“They haven’t scored 90 points yet, and when you’re playing a team like this, that’s a good sign,” Garnett said. “We just have to figure out the offensive side of the ball, and not be so stagnated. We [have to] figure out ways to score more off opportunities, be aggressive, take advantage of mismatches.”

Asked whether he could put his finger on his team’s offensive struggles, especially in the second half, Garnett answered simply, “I cannot.”

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